Most places in the Kashmir division experienced the season’s coldest night on Friday, even as the temperature continued its downward spiral in the Valley and Ladakh region, weather officials said.
Clear sky
The minimum temperature across Kashmir, barring Pahalgam, dropped due to a clear sky on Friday night, they said. Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius.
The officials said Kokernag, Qazigund, Kupwara, Gulmarg, Leh and Drass also experienced the season’s coldest night on Friday. Kokernag town in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 6.6 deg C, the lowest night temperature for December in over a decade.
Qazigund — the gateway town to the Valley — recorded the coldest December night in the last four years at 5 deg C. It had registered a low of minus 5.9 on December 27, 2014, the officials said.
The night temperature in Pahalgam, one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, settled at 9.5 degrees C.
Pahalgam, which on Thursday experienced the coldest December night in over a decade, was the only place in the Valley and Ladakh region where the night temperature increased last night.
At minus 11.5 degrees Celsius, the ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded the coldest December night in the last three years, the officials said.
Kupwara in north Kashmir saw the mercury going down to minus 4.5 degrees Celsius. Temperature in Leh town in the Ladakh region plummeted eight degrees last night to settle at minus 13.9 degrees Celsius.
Drass coldest
The officials said Kargil town recorded a low of minus 10.2 deg C. Drass had a low of minus 19.7 degrees Celsius and was the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir.
